Kamakura

Traveling overseas can have difficult moments, especially when no one has a cell phone. Today was one of those days. Trying to coordinate multiple people who are staying at different hotels across Tokyo can be challenging. We had decided that the team was going to meet at specific stations along the rout to Kamakura, our destination for our day off. I left this morning from The Royal Park and grabbed a train to Tokyo Station. From there, I took the Maranucho line to Shinjuku to meet part of the team at the Hilton. The trip to Shinjuku was an easy glide between the stations, and I quickly made my way out of the train station onto the streets of Shinjuku.

Shinjuku competes with central Tokyo for the title of business center of Tokyo, and it was easy to see why after exiting the flourescent lit tunnel into the daylight. Shinjuku is a jungle of metal trees and it was hard to get a good skyline shot form my perspective, but there were a few intriguing buildings I had to take pictures of.

 When I entered the Hilton, I knew the challenge would be connecting with Luke and Rick so we could leave together for the station. To my luck, the restaurant was located on the first floor, and Knut was eating breakfast with his wife right at the front. It was a great spot to meet, since I could scan the whole lobby for the remaining group and soon Rick, Luke and I had gathered down stairs. Thomas Yang came down right as we were preparing to leave, and we set off for Kamakura.

For us, getting to Kamakura was a challenge since we were planning to meet some more of our team members at another station. We took our train two stops and hopped off looking around for our Thai friend, Tom Somboosong. The first train rolled by us as we scanned the platform. before the second train arrived we split ourselves up and down the platform with the understanding we would all get on the next train regardless.  The train arrived, and Tom and his grouped had not arrived. We hopped on the train and worked our way to the center. Although there is an express train to Kamakura, we were Japanese rail amateurs.    In retrospect, we should have taken the JR Yokosuka Line. It's an express line that was a straight shot to Kamakura. We hopped on and off trains and asked numerous people for assistance along the way. I asked an old man at one train station that found me on the train further down the line. He tried to explain to me to get off at the next station and grab another train. He gestured with his hands a lot and I nodded a good bit as he tried to show me on a map within the train itself. When we got off the train, a couple who sat across from us was also going to Kamakura, and helped us get to our final train and on the way.


Our group knew the most important thing to do when you get off a train is find a place to eat! The golden arches called our name, and we heeded it's call. I order number 3 (san) as did most of the rest of our group. The restaurant was small, and we couldn't find seats. An employee showed us out the doow and up some flights of stairs to the "other" eating area. It was kind of odd leaving the restaurant with our trays and going up a flight of stairs to another floor, but that's Japan. We ate our lunch and planned our day.

My wife, kids and mother in law can attest, I love to walk. When Rick suggested we walk our way through the streets, I wasn't going to object. We navigated the maze of small streets to try to get to the other side of the station.  

The area immediately around the train station was packed with Japanese tourist spending their Saturday wandering the streets. Most of them were going to one of  Kamakura's major shrines, Hasedera. It didn't take long before we were in the Japanese country side. 

Our first stop was the Great Buddha. The Buddha is 30 ft tall and made of bronze. The first statue was build around 1200, and it has been rebuilt multiple times since then. Amazingly,the first Buddha was destroyed by a wind storm. When I saw the Buddha I was in awe, but I couldn't imagine a wind storm taking it out.

That's me in my Willy's Weenie Wagon shirt. I knew I needed to represent my childhood hometown. One day, this shirt will fall apart and disintegrate from wear, but this was not the day. At the foot of the Buddha was a daily offering of flowers and fruits. 

Additionally, there were incense burning in a large pot  in front of the statue. Patrons buy incense from the local monks and burn them in the offering pot for blessings.

 The Buddha was absolutely amazing, and we walked around the statue, there was a vendor taking 20 Yen to go inside. Of course I paid my twenty Yen to enter the bronze human cooker. The smothering heat was intensified as we entered, and the humid air sucked the water out of our bodies as our shirts soaked in sweat.  

  
Buddha was like a cheap chocolate Easter bunny, one large hollow shell. It was hard to get a good shot inside, and the hole in the back hole you can see in the picture is Buddha's head. The chocolate Easter bunny is a great explanation since the Buddha doesn't have an internal skeleton. The statue was casts in thirty separate shapes and pieced together to create the final product. 

Left to Right: Rick,Luke,Thomas

 We took a break, and made our way to the hiking trails. Along the way, Luke was craving icecream and he decided to go bold and try some green tea ice cream. 

Luke wasn't impressed by the green tea ice cream. He said it didn't taste like he expected. When I asked him if it tasted like green said, he said,"Yes". I'm still confused at why he would think green tea ice cream wouldn't taste like green tea. 


Geographically,  Kamakura is an interesting place since it's nestled between a number of mountains, and is right on the ocean. We missed the chance to go to the beach, but we weren't going to miss a chance to climb through the mountains.  The mountains will have to wait for me to have some more time to write.